“Creigh is the first to tell you he’s not the smoothest talker. But when he says something, you know it’s honest,” Elleithee later adds. “Bob McDonnell has not been honest in this campaign. Not about his transportation and energy plans, and certainly not about his record.”

The McDonnell campaign initially did not apologize, but released a statement saying that Deeds “never had a problem voicing his false attacks,” but “had difficulty expressing” a positive vision. After some more media coverage, Johnson apologized.

The full e-mail is available after the jump.

Dear Friend,

Bob McDonnell’s campaign has reached a new low.

Before introducing Bob at a campaign event, a top McDonnell surrogate resorted to mocking Creigh’s speaking style — insulting people who truly suffer from speech impediments.

George Mason University Professor Mark Rozell said the attack was “way out of line.” Chris Matthews exclaimed, “Stop the personal stuff, NOW!” And NBC’s David Shuster said, “I hope Bob McDonnell, for his sake, will distance himself from her and say that has no place in his campaign. I mean, that was just disgusting.”

But far from apologizing, the McDonnell campaign said the resulting outrage over the incident was “beyond us.”

Creigh is the first to tell you he’s not the smoothest talker. But when he says something, you know it’s honest.

Bob McDonnell has not been honest in this campaign. Not about his transportation and energy plans, and certainly not about his record.

Even worse, he’s proven incapable of acknowledging mistakes.

This is a man who, at the age of 34, wrote a thesis arguing that “working women” are “detrimental to the family.” And when a reporter asked him about it, Bob stared him right in the face and said, “I’m not apologizing.”

It’s time for an honest assessment of these candidates — one that’s based on the issues and who has the character to be governor, not petty personal attacks.

But in order to make that happen, we need your help to get our message out. Right now, McDonnell is outspending us 2-1 on TV ads.